Exploring
by Lariren-Shadow
Summary: Éowyn watches Elboron for a day and he decides to go see what his father is doing.


**Dedication:** To **Voldie on Varsity Track**. For all the insanity and good times. Things do get better. Here is a present for you!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own them.

* * *

Faramir sat behind his desk, advisors buzzing around him, handing him this paper or that paper. He was beginning to get a headache, from sitting and trying to listen to about three conversations at once. The fact that they also wanted him to read every piece of paper they gave him did not help either. Faramir did not get annoyed easily, but today, these people seemed to be trying his patience. He could not imagine how all this work could pile up at once.

After what seemed like days, though it was only a few hours, Faramir dismissed all of them, claiming he needed time to read over everything he had been given. As soon as they had left, he rubbed his eyes with his hands. He was not only tired from his advisors pushing papers at him, but also from other things. While Éowyn had agreed to have a nurse for Elboron, she almost insisted that she would take care of him at night. So they had many sleepless night, though they were in the past now. Faramir had been very happy when Elboron began to sleep through the night. That had been a while ago, but that did not mean that he had recovered from the sleep lose, since he had gone out on a patrol not short after that.

He took his hands away from his eyes and looked at the papers on his desk. If they were not finished by tomorrow, the advisors would not leave him alone again. _Some point being Prince of Ithilien is_, he thought, _I still answer to them!

* * *

_

Éowyn sat in her study, reading a book. She looked over the top to make sure that Elboron was still playing with his toys. His nurse had kindly asked to not have to look after him today, since her mother was ill and she wanted to help tend to her. Éowyn had let her go, thinking she could take care of her own son for a day.

It was more difficult than what she expected it to be. She had learned earlier that day that if she was going to even think about reading, that she should close the door to the room first. Elboron had decided to use his crawling ability to leave the room when she had first done this, causing Éowyn to franticly search for him, and finding him in the hall did not help her nerves. She had then realized that the door should stay closed and she came up with a system. Read a few pages, then look to see if Elboron was still there and playing. A few times she had to find him again, and once he had wanted to be feed. But she seemed to be in control now. She had proved to herself that she could watch over her own son.

Elboron crawled over to where his mother sat and pulped himself down. He decided that he wanted to play with her skirts, so he promptly grabbed a little hand full and tugged. He did so again, finding it to be the most amusing thing he had done all day. Éowyn looked down and saw Elboron laughing and tugging away.

"You seem to like this dress, don't you Elboron." She said picking him up.

Elboron reached for the bottom of the dress again, sad to have lost his new plaything. He promptly discovered a new thing to tug, Éowyn's hair. He grabbed a clump and pulled with all his might.

"Ow, Elboron, no!" Éowyn said trying to get her hair out of his hand. Elboron didn't like this, and tried to keep it by pulling more. "Ah, ah, Elboron, no, not for playing, let go of your mother's hair." She said, trying again to get the hair out of his hand. She grabbed her hair above where he had, and he still pulled, but this time Éowyn did not feel him pulling. She smiled, knowing that now he could be amused with out causing her pain.

She held her hand above his for a little, and then wondered what else she could do today. Elboron seemed to be thinking the same thing, since he let go of her hair and looked around. He then decided that he wanted to go back to his toys, and tried to lunge forward. Éowyn caught him before he fell; her heart was racing from the thought of him falling. "Elboron, try not do that again. See, I can put you down." She let him down and he crawled back to his toys. Éowyn kept her eyes on him for a little then she picked up her book again.

Elboron looked at his mother again. She had gone back to her reading and Elboron decided to try for the door again. He crawled over and looked up at it. He could see the door was closed, and he did not like that. He whimpered at his lose.

Éowyn looked up at the sound. She put her book down, realizing that the entire time she had been in here, she had read a total of three pages. She looked around, panicking when she did not see Elboron at first. She stood and turned towards the door, feeling relived when she saw him there. She walked over and knelt beside him. He looked at her with a confused look and kicked the door with his foot.

"You want to go and explore again, don't you?" She said in a soothing voice. As if he understood, Elboron looked at her and put his arms up to be carried. "All right, why do we not we go see what your father is doing." Éowyn said standing. She picked Elboron up and balanced him in one arm while opening the door with the other.

* * *

Faramir read over some of the papers he had been left. Most, if not all, were trivial manners such as who got what land or if and how much should a road toll be. Faramir took that one, and looked it over. There was no reason for the road in question to have a toll, or a barrier. It was a frequently used road and a toll would only cause unrest. He rubbed his chin and took a piece of paper and began writing the reasons why the road should not have a toll for documentation.

Éowyn walked up to the door to Faramir's study, Elboron now squirming in her arms to be let down. This gave her an idea. She put him down and opened the door as quietly as she could. "Go, go surprise him." She whispered to Elboron.

Elboron crawled through the open door. He saw his father behind his desk, concentrating on writing. Éowyn watched through the partially open door as Elboron crawled over to Faramir. Elboron made it over to Faramir, and he looked up at him. He wanted to be up there, so he reached his arms up. He made a pleading noise and got Faramir's attention.

Faramir stopped writing and looked down at Elboron. He put down his pen and picked Elboron up. "Well, my son, what brings you here? And where are you suppose to be?" Elboron just looked at him, then down at the things on the desk. Faramir held him while he played with the papers, not really stopping him, and hoping that he would lose some of the papers.

Éowyn decided that this was a good time to come in. She closed the door behind her and Faramir looked over, but not before Elboron, who had just been playing with the letter that was not yet dry, but his hands on Faramir's nose. Éowyn burst out laughing at what she saw.

Faramir looked at her questioningly. "Do you think it is funny when he grabs my nose?" He asked.

Éowyn shock her head, trying to calm down. "No..it is that he has ink on his hands." She said through laughs.

Faramir looked down at Elboron's hands and saw that they had black smudges on them. His eyes then drifted to the paper he was writing and saw that it now had Elboron's hand prints on it. His hand went to his nose and when he pulled it back he saw that his finger tips where black. Elboron just smiled and clapped his hands together. "I'm glad that both of you enjoy this." He said. Éowyn walked over and took Elboron into her arms. As soon as he was in her arms, he put his hand to her check, giving her a nice handprint as well.

It was Faramir's turn to laugh now as Éowyn took the bottom of her dress in her hand and wiped Elboron's hands on it. She looked at Elboron after she had cleaned his hands and saw him yawn. "Are you getting tired?" In reply Elboron let his head rest on her shoulder. She turned to Faramir, who had recovered from laughing faster than she had. "Would you like to come too and wash your face?" She asked.

"I think that I can do that. I only have theses papers to go over, and they can wait until later." He said walking over. He kissed her, leaving a new mark on her face from where his nose touched it. Éowyn pulled away, heading for the door. Elboron's eyes were slowly closing as he rested on her shoulder.

Faramir opened the door and walked with them. In their rooms, Éowyn carefully washed Elboron's hands, trying hard not to move him too much. She kept bending and trying not to move him more than she had to. Faramir, noticing her distress, took up the cloth that Éowyn had been using and washed Elboron's hands for her. She mouthed a silent 'thank you' before she put Elboron in his cradle.

She came back to where Faramir was to see that he was cleaning the wrong side of his face. She chuckled and went over and took the cloth from his hand. "I think I can clean myself." He said, reaching for the cloth back. Éowyn kept it and tried to move it away from him.

"I would believe that, if you were cleaning the right side of your face." She said, dipping the cloth in water and cleaning the correct side of his face.

"That would help if I wanted to get the ink off." He said. After she was finished, Faramir took the cloth and cleaned her face for her. He kissed her clean check, then moved to her lips. Faramir was about to deepen the kiss when they heard Elboron stir in the other room.

Éowyn went to his cradle, while Faramir looked longingly after her. She stopped over his cradle, seeing that he was just moving in his sleep. Faramir joined her, looking down at him.

"He went exploring today?" He asked.

"Yes, he likes that he can move now, and doesn't seem to want to stay in one place to long." Éowyn said.

"Sounds like some of the stories your brother told me about you." Faramir said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Éowyn turned to face him. "It also sounds like the stories your old nurse told me about you and your brother."

Faramir smiled. "Well, then we are both to blame for that desire."


End file.
